Thursday, July 26, 2018

Who the hell is leaking this stuff?

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, claims that then-candidate Trump knew in advance about the June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower in which Russians were expected to offer his campaign dirt on Hillary Clinton, sources with knowledge tell CNN. Cohen is willing to make that assertion to special counsel Robert Mueller, the sources said.

Hot damn! Looks like a flip. I said he wouldn't turn, and yet, by golly, he's a-turnin'!

See? That's why I customarily predict the worst. Everyone makes wrong-headed forecasts, but when I do it, I feel great.

“They’re dead to each other [now],” said another source close to the president who also knows Cohen.

Trump allies are already gaming out how to, in the words of one outside adviser to the president, “bury” Cohen.

A Cohen ally brushed off the impending attacks, calling Giuliani and his associates “the gang who can’t shoot straight.”

That kind of bravado is dangerous. If we apply a broader definition, the "gang that couldn't shoot straight" includes the most popular news organization in America, nearly all of talk radio, Breitbart, every conspiracy site on the internet (except mine!), unending hordes of trolls and bots, a hacker army, Bannon's international fascist movement, some incredibly wealthy moneymen, the FSB, Cambridge Analytica (or whatever they are calling themselves these days) and a dangerous faction within American intelligence. (Remember this? Betcha didn't.) Whoever this "Cohen ally" may be, he's whistling in the dark.

Here's what really bugs me: Cohen's attorney says he didn't leak this information, and no-one has yet made a convincing argument as to why it was in Team Trump's interest to leak this information. Moreover, this situation comes just a couple of days after the leak of the first Cohen tape -- and we still don't know which side let that one slip out.

Giuliani is one hell of a liar - almost as good as Trump. So now the "show" lawyer for The Donald, who hasn't defended a client in forever wants to make the media his courtroom. His new tactic of leaking the hard information ahead of the Southern New York investigators getting first dibs - first to fall was the chopped Cohen-Trump tape and now the Trump Tower meeting with the Ruskies. So Rudy lied about who said "cash" on the tape - it was Trump. Now he lies about Cohen leaking the Trump Tower bombshell. So Cohen, who worked for Trump for years is a liar hired by Trump "who hires great people" to payoff whores. Please notice that nobody who defends the solipsistic "stable genius," ever admits to Trump's inability to face truth.

Anyhow, Sean and Rush are getting more shrill as the favorable judges rulings are bringing about Mueller looks into Trump's taxes and the misuse of Trump's charity. Even better, a judge has properly defined the meaning of emoluments which will blow up Trump retaining ownership of his businesses. Soon investigators will be all over the illegal money schemes of Mr. Trump.

Sorry, I couldn't stop the comments.

The famous ex-NYC mayor shows that he is losing his fight with aging - a disbarable offense becomes a "disbursable" offense and then he said "I don’t see how he has any creditability.” - uh, "credibility," perhaps. The Wapo suggested that Rudy appears to have a perpetual dry mouth, often symptomatic of nerve damage, Alzheimer's or stroke and at age 73 he stands with a slight stoop and a wide stance which may indicate that he is unsteady when standing. The often noticeable severe downward pull on his left lip and his sometimes slurred speech could mean that he suffers from mini-strokes. The bug-eyed-Rudy photo in the RawStory piece shows a sick man.

Maybe Trump's side leaked it because it's not provable or not true. The media overreaches and the Trump side once again discredits them for being "Fake News." Right out of their playbook.

posted by lawrence a fisher : 8:46 AM

Joseph, so many interesting posts!

Rachel Maddow paints a good picture that Donald and his boys are leaking the Cohen material. It makes sense. they're low functioning individuals who have managed to prosper in the demimonde of NYC real estate, where bluster, bullshit and bribery are coin of the realm. So Donald thinks that these methods will work in an actual legal case. The strategy seems to waive any privilege and leak it out so that Cohen has nothing to offer prosecutors in exchange for lenience.

But wait a minute. Those recordings are still evidence. And from the sound of the one tape we have heard, its's easy to see how having Cohen on the stand answering questions would be of great value. Indeed, Chuck Rosenberg, the former federal prosecutor who appeared on Rachel last night made exactly that case. The recordings lose none of their value just because they got leaked.

And just because Rudy, Trump's Spin Shyster, says something does not make it worth listening to.

@gadfly, Rudy is one hell of a liar, and he's also become a strange ranting old man. I'm with you, I think he looks ten years older than his age with signs of something really wrong. He looks just like the grinning skull who beholds the garbage festival that surrounds Trump.